Another End

The last day of another year.
After a snack from his Tante Carrie that morning, Puck began running in circles around the Christmas tree and through the dining room.
“What did you give him to eat?” Collette asked Carrie.
“A little brownie…”
Puck was wired, and giggling happily.
After Collette and Joe made a run to the dealership to take care of the emissions and inspection on Collette’s car, and a drop by Target for hair conditioner and a gallon of milk, Collette returned to find Puck playing matchbox cars with his Aunt Kitts.
Once the girls had left to take Puck to the grocery store for apple pie supplies, Rose began to torment Pumpkin, who had climbed inside an Amazon cardboard box. She carried around the fat black blob, wedged comfortably inside the box.
“Give me back my cat!” Linnea cried when she saw her.
Rose began to spin around in circles with the cat.
“Stop that!” said Linnea.
“It’s astronaut training!” Rose exclaimed.
The girls reconciled by later reconvening in Rose’s room to melt red wax onto the stoppers of glass jars filled with pickled peppers.
“What’s going on in here?” Collette asked, half-afraid that the girls wanted to use the peppers for eating.
“They fell off my windowsill and cracked,” said Rose. “We’re resealing them so the peppers don’t spoil.”
The girls returned shortly later with Puck and a large bag of green apples. Puck trotted into the dining room to help drag his highchair into the kitchen to watch the action.
“Apple pie!” he crooned.
The evening ended with a gathering of no less than 23 people, including: Mom, OLeif, Collette, Louis, Lucia, Grewe Freckles, Carrie-Bri, Aristotle George and a buddy, Joe, Ben-Hur, Luke Annie and his cronies, Susie, Augustus, Curly, Rose, Juliet, Mollie, Sunrise, Francis, Linnea, and a pile of pizza. Dad preferred a quiet evening watching the sleeping Puck instead.
Come midnight, Collette heard the fireworks, yelling, and Joe’s air horn from the backyard.
So another year. The fastest on record. On to another year, another season, more surprises, more adventures, more occurrences.